 | - Teaching Assistant, Inductive Reasoning (Stanford, 1997)
- Teaching Assistant, Deductive Reasoning (Stanford, 1998)
- Instructor, Great Discoveries in Mathematics (Washington College, 1999-2003)
- Instructor, Inductive and Deductive Reasoning (Washington College, 2004-2005)
- Instructor, Data and Chance (Washington College, 2005-2007)
- Academic Dean (Stanford 2008-2009)
13 years I love the weekend activities - dances are a huge highlight. At the Chestertown site, one of my favorite activities was the CTY carnival. At the Palo Alto Site, I loved the last dance. It was different from every other site, and there was a dance that each RA group added a move to every year. Pi Day at CTY is one of my favorite days. My CTY classroom always celebrated the second Friday of each session because if you think about CTY as a whole school year put into three weeks - March 14 falls roughly on the second Friday of each session. We always did fun activities involving math and probability and I loved seeing the kids explore and understand pi. My birthday falls every summer at CTY, and I taught the history of math class for several years. The summer that I turned 25, my students made me one of the best cards I have ever received. They wrote in the card: At one point in your life you were three squared, at another point in your life you were four squared, today you are five squared, living proof of the Pythagorean Theorem. I love seeing the friendships formed among the students. I also love watching them learn how to work in a group. Watching the students work to navigate how to use each other effectively is a huge highlight. In most cases, they have never been challenged before so there is an initial struggle to figure out how to learn material that does not come easily, but I love seeing them learn to work in a group and seeing what they can produce when they work together. I think learning from your mistakes is not only an important skill in the math classroom, but an important skill for life as well. It is through learning from mistakes that you understand the material better, as well as learn and grow as a person.
In Data and Chance, one student was struggling with most of the topics of probability. When we created groups for the games of chance, this particular student and his partner created a fabulous game of chance that really had nothing about the game that could be left to skill. It was truly a game of chance (which was the goal of the game). I helped the group with their expected value and when it came time for the games of chance carnival, this group kept VERY close track of the number of people who played their game. At the end of the carnival, groups always look at the expected value of their game, the amount of "money" that they made, and what they expected to make based on their expected value. Well, in the end, this group made exactly what the expected value predicted that they should make. When this happened, this student finally understood the difference between experimental probability, theoretical probability and expected value. It was a fantastic moment.
I think it is the people who both work at CTY and attend CTY. I currently teach middle school math at the Meadowbrook School in Weston, MA. I teach 6th, 7th and 8th grade math which consists of a variety of Pre-Algebra, Algebra and Geometry. I am constantly thinking about how I can learn and grow more as an educator and how CTY helps me fulfill that growth as an educator. I also recently got married, and am enjoying married life. |
